Pakistan force decider

England fail to chase 266 at Lord's, NatWest Series all-square

Pakistan put the latest off-field distractions to one side to beat England by 38 runs in the fourth one-day international at Lord's and set up a NatWest Series decider.

LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Watch the NatWest Series decider from the Rose Bowl
Wed, 2pm, Sky Sports HD1/1

The day began with doubts over whether the match would go ahead at all after Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt made an unsubstantiated allegation that England had been bribed to lose the third match of the series on Friday, which Pakistan won by 23 runs.

Ajmal accounted for Davies, Trott (4) was unfortunate to play Shahid Afridi's leg-spin onto his stumps via bat and pad, and Strauss, who hit eight fours in his 24th ODI half-century, cut hard to Fawad Alam at backward point off Shoaib.

An out-of-sorts Paul Collingwood used up 18 deliveries to make four before being bowled by Gul, who found some reverse swing with the old ball.

Ian Bell (28), preferred to Ravi Bopara in England's starting line-up after being brought into the squad following his century for Warwickshire on the same ground in Saturday's CB40 final, and Eoin Morgan (27) hinted at a recovery until Bell was caught by sub fielder Azhar Ali in the covers off Ajmal in the 37th over.

Gul and Shoaib, who carried on bowling despite appearing to suffer a side strain, proved too much for the lower order - Michael Yardy (9), Tim Bresnan (1), Graeme Swann (12) and Stuart Broad (2) all having their stumps rearranged as Pakistan completed their triumph in fine style.

Earlier, a patient 64 from opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez and explosive late cameos from Afridi and Abdul Razzaq allowed Pakistan to make the most of their decision to bat first.

Hafeez and opening partner Kamran Akmal put on 62 in 13.4 overs to lay the platform for a total of 265-7.

Broad (2-44) made the first breakthrough for England by bouncing out Akmal (28), whose top-edged pull gave Strauss a straightforward catch at square-leg.

And, as so often in the recent past, the introduction of spinner Swann turned things around for England.

Swann bowled Asad Shafiq (11) with his fifth delivery and went on to run through the middle order, adding the scalps of Mohammad Yousuf (3), Hafeez and Fawad (29), to record figures of 4-37 from his 10 overs.

Razzaq blast

At 155-5 in the 38th over, Pakistan were in danger of falling away but skipper Afridi and Razzaq rode to their rescue.

Afridi hit three fours and two sixes to inject some impetus before holing out off Bresnan's bowling for a 22-ball 37, leaving the stage free for Razzaq.

The all-rounder finished unbeaten on 44 from 20 deliveries as Pakistan took 42 from the final two overs, 21 apiece off James Anderson (0-54) and Bresnan (1-62).

Razzaq smashed seven fours and a six in the space of 11 balls, including finishing the innings with five successive boundaries.